Counselling

Here's a few of my thoughts on what you may experience in counselling with me...

Working Alongside You...

Counselling is a safe space where you can explore your life and difficult issues or feelings of any kind. I aim to provide a safe, warm, accepting, supportive therapeutic relationship and space in which issues can be processed and explored, awareness increased and, where appropriate, options for change identified.

I believe you are the expert of your own life. To that end, I do not believe my role as a counsellor is to offer you advice or tell you what to do. This can be challenging as well as comforting to hear. If life seems difficult and you don’t know what to do you may want an ‘expert’ to tell you what to do. However, working alongside a skilled counsellor you can come to decisions that feel authentically right for you, develop greater trust in your own self and go forward from a more grounded place which will serve you better in your daily life.

How Long Will it Take?

Counselling is not an instantaneous ‘fix’. It would be wonderful to be able to wave a magic wand and ‘everything could be better’. But it usually takes time and patience. Sometimes clients have just needed one or two sessions to talk out loud to a neutral third party (me), e.g. to identify a plan of action. For others 6-12 sessions are enough. And others may choose to be in counselling for longer. I am experienced in both brief and longer-term therapy and happy working either way. I don’t feel you ‘should’ be in counselling for a certain time – sometimes you just want a help through a certain ‘blip’ in your life or to get started with some changes, at other times things feel more deep-rooted and you need need longer-term support. You may choose to work with me for a number of sessions, end that piece of work, and come back at a later date, or not at all. It’s your choice how much you explore and when you feel ready to end counselling.

What Counselling Approach Do You Use?

Many people come into counselling not knowing anything about counselling and the different approaches available, and that's ok. For others, knowing the approach a counsellor uses is key. If that's you, please read on...

I am trained in the dialogue between Person-centred and Psychodynamic. For definitions of these and other types of therapy see BACP's 'It's good to talk' site. The Person-centred side of my work, which is at the core of what I offer, is what's described in my earlier answers. The Psychodynamic side may, for example, be more active should you choose to look at earlier relationships - if, or where, the past feels 'alive' in the present, if strong feelings come up in our counselling relationship, or in exploring couple relationships/dynamics.